Obstetrical appliance.



No. 798,367. PATENTED AUG. 29, 1905.

J. H. F. SMOKEY. OBSTETRIGAL APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 1905.

JOSEPH H. F. SMOKEY, OF NATOHEZ, MISSISSIPPI.

OBSTETRICAL APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1905.

Application filed May 4, 1906. Serial No. 258,746.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH H. F. SMOKEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Natchez, in the county of Adams and State of Mississippi, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Obstetrical Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to obstetrical appliances-. a, appliances for assisting women in giving birth to children; and it has for its object to provide an appliance calculated to enable a woman in labor to work a child downwardly and retain it against retrograde movement and also calculated to generally assist a woman in giving birth to a child.

The appliance is of the type designed to be attached to a bedstead; and its novelty, utility, and practical advantages will be fully understood from the following description and claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the appliance constituting the present and preferred embodiment of my invention in use. Fig. 2 is a general plan view of the appliance detached from the bedstead, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of two modified connections that are employedwhen the appliance is to be attached to the footboard of a metallic bedstead.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, A is a bedstead of the ordinary or any other suitable construction, and B is my novel appliance, which is shown in Fig. 1 as properly attached to the bedstead and in use by a woman about to give birth to a child. The said appliance comprises bed-engaging connections a, preferably clamps having set-screws band loops or eyes 0, longitudinal straps (Z, connected, preferably in an adjustable manner, to the said loops or eyes 0 and having handholds 0 at their ends remote from the loops or eyes, a foot-barf, having apertures g loosely receiving the straps (Z, a belt 7L. adjustable in size so as to fit the bodies of different women and having an inner pad 70, of felt or other suitable material, designed to prevent it from bruising or otherwise injuring a patient, looped straps Z, preferably of elastic material, connected at one end to the straps d at points adjacent to the handholds and at their opposite ends to the belt h, preferably through the medium of diverging side straps m, having loops a loosely receiving the belt, a strap connection p, disposed below the foot-bar f, loops or eyes a, receiving the bights of the looped elastic straps Z, and straps 8, passed loosely through the apertures of the footbar f and connected at one end to the loops or eyes a" and having their opposite ends adjustably connected to the connection P.

In the practical use of the appliance the c'onnections a are fixed on the footboard of the bedstead and the belt h is fastened around the waist of the patient, who is positioned on the bed with her feet bearing against the barf and her hands grasping the holds a, as shown. With the appliance applied as stated and the bar f drawn upwardly, so as to throw the prospective mothers legs apart, it will be observed that when she draws upwardly on the longitudinal pull-straps d she will push downwardly on the-said foot-bar f, with the result that the elasti'c straps Z will yieldingly draw the padded belt h downwardly on the belly and through the medium of the same accelerate the accouchement. As the belt 7 is drawn downwardly in the manner stated slack of the straps s is taken up where said straps are fastened to the connections 19, and in this way retrograde movement of the child in the mother is precluded.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that my appliance is adapted to enable a woman to deliver a child with but a minimum amount of effort and in a shorter space of time than would otherwise be required.

When the appliance is to be attached to a metallic bedstead, connections a (one of which is shown in Fig. 3) are employed in lieu of the connections a, Figs. 1 and 2, the said connections a respectively comprising a strap and a loop or eye of, carried thereby.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. Anobstetrical appliance comprising a belt adapted to lit around the body, handholds, means for connecting the handholds with the footboard of a bedstead, connections between the belt and the handholds, a footbar, andconnections intermediate the footbar and the connections between the belt and the handholds.

2. An obstetrical appliance comprising a belt adapted to fit around the body, hand holds having straps, means on said straps for In testimony whereof I have hereunto set conncctlng the same to the footboard of a bedmy hand in presence of two subscrlblng W1tstead, a foot-bar having apertures loosely renesses.

ceiving' said straps, looped, elastic straps in- JOSEPH H. F. SMOKEY. 5 tel-mediate the belt and the handholds, and Witnesses: v

straps connected to the looped straps and ad- LEWIS R. MARTIN,

justably connected below the foot-bar. CHARLES R. BYRNES. 

